Making your brand outstanding

What is the essence of establishing an organisation or creating a brand/product if no one knows what you do or settling for being an 'alright' brand when your can be outstanding? If your organisation or product is in this category, then you are going to thank me for this post!!

Many 'good' organisations have shut down and some are still closing down. This is because being good is no longer enough! Your brand cannot afford to just be referred to as 'good' when there are so many products out there which makes it extra easy for mediocre brands to go unnoticed. Consumers are now smarter and would not settle for average/low brands when there are high-quality brands available. They would rather invest their resources into something 'promising' - an outstanding product/brand.



Your brand too can be outstanding but to achieve this, it is mandatory for you as an organisation or individual to have a series of creative strategies in place. Matching your strategies with these few tips I'm about to talk about should give you an outstanding brand:

1. Have a unique selling point (USP): There must be something unique about the product or service(s) you render. Identify this USP and communicate them appropriately.

2. Know your target public: brands that know their intended audience and implement their strategies based on the identified public perform better than brands that address the general populace.
Who are you targeting? Who is your product meant for? Having answers to the aforementioned questions will not only make the brand/organisation focused, it will also enable the organisation produce communication materials and products that caters to the need of the target public and also make the brand/organisation stand out.

3. Effective communication: the crucial word in this point is 'effective' - many brands communicate but the communication is not effective. There are so many messages out there that yield no result. What makes for effective communication is when the communication objectives are met. This could be for the target public to behave in a certain way, or make a purchase.
Effective communication is often characterised by the target public first understanding the message, learning the message and then behaving in the desired manner. The effectiveness of a communication message can be measured using surveys.

4. Get social: this is an essential especially in this technologically advanced age. Put your brand on social media, give your public a chance to interact with your brand and watch your brand placement rank high. As Erik Qualman once stated, "the power of social media is that it forces necessary change". But I will say the change will only be achieved if social media is used correctly (maybe I will do a post on "Social media Do's and Don'ts that can affect your brand). Everything you post on social media reflects on your brand.. so how do you want to be known? (Lisa Horn).

5. Befriend your enemy: YES! You read right! I know some people would disagree with this point but I'm of the opinion that befriending your enemy (in this case, competing brands) can give you an edge.
You can get to know what their brand is lacking, what their consumers complain about and use whatever information you gather to improve your own brand. What I am simply saying is take advantage of the flaws of competing brands to improve yours.

6. Adequate research: research is highly important in brand building (I think this should have been the second point or so). Research about your target public's needs and expectations, what platform is most appropriate to reach them, etc.. You'd be surprised how much the data you gather from your research will help improve your brand.

7. Be consistent: you just have to be consistent. You cannot afford to be here today and gone tomorrow. Being consistent will keep your brand in the hearts of your target public and eventually a time will come when your target public will tell others about you.

In summary, WAKE UP AND MAKE YOUR BRAND OUTSTANDING!
If you have any more tips to add to these, please share them by commenting.